


Feathers & Bricks

by Forgotten_Oleanders



Series: Feathers & Bricks [2]
Category: Invader Zim
Genre: Abusive Parent Professor Membrane, Abusive Parents, Adoption, Aged-Up Dib (Invader Zim), Alternate Universe - Foster Family, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Bad Parent Professor Membrane, Canon Divergence, Confused Dib (Invader Zim), Dib Has Issues (Invader Zim), Dib deserves better, Dib gets adopted, Dib gets better, Dib has one braincell at times, Dib is 4 11 but still, Dib is CEO of baby, Dib is in fact gay, Dib-centric (Invader Zim), Does Professor Membrane even try to be a good parent? No, Dork Dib (Invader Zim), Emotional/Psychological Abuse, F/M, Familial Love, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Foster Care, Found Family, Friends to Lovers, Gay Dib, Headcanon, Hurt/Comfort, I mean Zim isn't that tall, I will add tags as I go, I'm Bad At Summaries, I'm Bad At Tagging, Idiots in Love, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Mental Heath Issues, It is Zim's turn on the braincell, M/M, Me spamming new tags instead of posting a new chapter? more likely than you think, Minor Original Character(s), No ZADE here, OC, OCs - Freeform, Original Character(s), Other, Out of Character, Professor Membrane is a abusive father, Self-Discovery, Self-Indulgent, Self-Love, Short Dib (Invader Zim), Short Dib rights, Tall Zim (Invader Zim), ZADF, ZADF leading to ZADR, ZaDr, Zim Tries (Invader Zim), Zim is 5 ft, Zim is Defective (Invader Zim), Zim is a good friend, Zim is getting better, but still, canon? whos she?, learning to self love, lots of comfort, most of the love here is platonic, small amount of romance, the foster care system is actually good here
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-26
Updated: 2020-11-26
Packaged: 2021-03-09 18:09:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,254
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27720520
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Forgotten_Oleanders/pseuds/Forgotten_Oleanders
Summary: Fully self-indulgent storyTW for references/implications to past abuse and perhaps light mental/emotional abuseI require Dib acknowledging he is abused and being integrated into a better homeAlso, Zim and Dib being friends and maybe boyfs, as a treat :)Out of character moments? Hell yeah! Do I care? Hell no. Chalk it up to Headcanon and characters growing up.
Relationships: Dib & Gaz (Invader Zim), Dib & Professor Membrane, Dib & Zim (Invader Zim), Dib (Invader Zim) & Original Character(s), Dib/Zim (Invader Zim)
Series: Feathers & Bricks [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2060991
Comments: 5
Kudos: 26





	1. - Prologue -

It was cold outside, not yet snowing but not fall anymore. Dib shivered as he walked home, his hoodie & trench coat mix not cutting it. It didn't help that he fell in the slush a few minutes ago, soaking his jeans in the knee area. Hopefully, this usual 1-hour walk will fly by.

Dib finally reached his house, already excited to pull out the space heater. He fumbled for his keys for a second before absolutely hating himself. He lost his keys, again. Great, now he had to freeze for another 3 hours until Gaz came back from her after school gaming meet. Dib gave a hefty sigh and heavily dropped down on the top step in front of the door. Even though the logical conclusion would be to make the 30-minute walk to his dad's work, he knew better. It didn't matter what he did, he could never convince the guards he was Professor Membrane's son, and even if he could this time, Dib didn't really want to see his dad. He mostly never wanted to see his dad nowadays, thankful for his father only being home once a month.

There was no real particular reason for Dib to feel this way, he just... did. Plus, it wasn't like Dib actually wanted to think about it. It was weird. Whenever he saw his dad he always had a pit in his stomach, he would be antsy, nervous, and would be in a terrible headspace. Perhaps this was because he actually felt the weight of each disappointed stare, each insult, each head turn. It was fine though, Dib didn't care, he wasn't supposed to care. If he cared then it would just stir trouble, and he was done being in the public eye. People already hated him enough.

At least he had Zim, his only friend nowadays, his Ex-enemy, the person he thought he would always hate. Zim really was a help. He actually got it. He got the struggle, the feelings, the worst of it all. The two really became close in these past years. Dib truly was grateful.

Dib gave another sigh, perhaps he should just man up and go over to Zim's base. Dib took a glance at the locked door behind him. Yeah, it was time to go to his friend's house. Dib got up, ready for his 10-minute walk.


	2. - 1 -

Midnight. The only valid time to be awake. Dib was currently revising his short essay. It was due next week but he just wanted it done. He rubbed the exhaustion from his eyes and looked over his progress. He reached over for his water at the second paragraph and was disappointed by an empty cup. Great, he had to venture out of his room. It wasn't like he was a hermit, he just worked better when left alone. 

He got up, cup in hand, and trudged to his bedroom door. He put his ear to the door and, once he knew it was silent outside the room, he silently opened the door. His tip-toed downstairs and into the kitchen. His socks suddenly felt soaked at the feeling of the ice-cold kitchen tile. He shuffled to the sink and turned on the tap, flicking the lever to activate the water filter in the process, and put the cup under the water. The sound of water pouring into the cup was deafening in the silence.

"What are you doing awake?" Dib turned on his heels, his muscles tensing at the sound of his father's voice. 

"I was working on an essay for school. I needed water." 

"You should be asleep."

"It's Friday." Dib paused, hands fidgeting. "It's a biology essay."

There was a moment of silence, the only sound being the tap.

"I suppose you may stay up for a few more hours. Only because biology is a very important subject." Then he turned and left. Back to his lab probably. 

Dib sighed, one hand immediately going to his chest, over his racing heart. He turned back to the tap and turned it off, taking a long sip from the full cup right after. He wiped at the water that basically spilled all over the front of his shirt and gave another sigh. He relaxed and looked into the pitch-black living room, time to make the trip back to his room.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Actually the whole white bread debacle was quite humorous. Perhaps Zim-"

"I. Perhaps I." Dib gave a small encouraging smile and Zim returned it.

"Perhaps I should bring whole wheat bread to the multigrainers. Perhaps then I can infiltrate their ranks." He gave an evil smirk.

Dib gave a small chuckle. "Or the multigrainers will beat you up for daring to bring enemy bread to their table."

Zim seemed to ponder this, a gloved hand resting under his chin. "Hmm, you might be right." He gave a triumphant huff. "Then I will just infiltrate the whole weaters." 

"That could work..."

"Ah-ha! You admit it! It will work!"

"I didn't say it would, I said it could."

"Still!"

The lunch bell rang shrill, at least a hundred teens jumping up to leave. Dib and Zim stayed back until they were part of the last few stragglers.

"See you 7th period?" Dib got up, throwing his bag over his shoulder.

"See you 7th period, Dib-Human." Zim gave a nod of acknowledgment and walked off into the many hallways that made up the school. 

Dib watched him go for a few seconds before following suit in getting through the maze of hallways. He barely rushed, not really caring if he was a few seconds late to 5th. The bell just rang as he made his way into Mr. Garter's class. He immediately found his seat and set his bag next to him. Once the teacher started their lecture, Dib looked to the clock and spaced out. 

His mind went back to last Friday night. He still physically cringed at his reaction to his dad. Why did he act that way? It wasn't as if his dad would go on another lecture on how much of a disappointment he was just for getting water. But then again, it wouldn't be surprising. Then again, it was his fault. He shouldn't have been awake, or he should have just gone without water.

The next hour seemed to fly by and the two hours after that felt just as short. Finally, it was 4:10, time to leave. Zim and Dib left the school bounds in a comfortable silence, quickly going into an equally comfortable conversation on the way back to their respective houses. Once it was time for them to continue on their ways alone, the two waved goodbye and went on their way without another word. Dib liked this. He was content with how this was going. He finally had a friend, and it was someone who genuinely cared and understood him.

The walk back home alone was a pain but nothing he couldn't handle. Dib opened the front door and was met with the same old familiar scene. He had the house to himself for three hours. He smiled to himself and immediately took the chance to watch the newest feature-length episode of Casper that had come out that day. Kicking off his sneakers and shrugging off his bag at the door, he flopped onto the couch and turned on the TV, quickly searching the DVR for the episode. Once he found it, he snuggled up on the couch and got ready to watch.


End file.
